Speedomotive Stroker V's CHP Stroker

[JimT]

Hi,

I have a 351W which I plan to stroker to eithe 393, 408 or 418. Speedomotive have their 418 stoker at $1495 which includes:

4.100" 4340 Forged Crank,
6.200" 4340 Forged H-Beam Rods
KB Hypereutectic Pistons

For the same price I could go for the Coast High Performance 408 Street Fighter kit which includes:

4.000" Cast Steel Steel Crank
6.250" I-Beam CNC Machined Beam Rods
4.030" Forged Probe Flat-top Pistons

What would your preference be? I'm trying to put together an engine which has plenty of torque and the ability to rev to 6500RPM for short periods, ideally something around 400-450BHP.

Has anyone got any good/bad things to say about these companies. I emailed both companies a couple of weeks ago about my setup, Speedomotive got back to me within 24 hours, I haven't heard back from CHS.

Cheers,

Jim.

[Jim Downard]

Hey Jim,

There's been a lot of discussion about cubic inch sizes for windsors lately. Check the search engine for stroked windsors. I had hound dog run some numbers for me. He uses the dyno 2000 software. I also have a 351W and was going to do some work to it myself. It was going to receive a set of Edelbrock heads, cam, new pistons, rockers, pushrods, and other misc. items i.e. oil pump, arp bolts. HOWEVER. Now pay close attention. I just bought a 393W stroker from Indy Mustang Performance. It's a long block with oil pump for $3300. He can build it the way you want, but as priced mine came with KB pistons( I wanted 10.5:1 CR), Clevite bearings, Roush 200 heads (these are cast iron) Most of the old timers in my area like cast iron over aluminum, Manley valves, crane roller rockers, and a wolverine blue racer flat tappet hydralic cam. I couldn't build up my own 351W for that price and now I have a stroker and an extra 351 to boot. He advertised this motor at about 550 hp, but plenty of skeptics think it will be in the 400's. That is still o.k. for me as I think I got plenty of bang for the buck. Anyway, the discussions I've read in the past when dealing with strokers puts the 393 as the best all around package, but like I said earlier, read the previous posts and determine for yourself.

Good luck,

Jim Downard

[xcessive1]

jim, i have chp's 351/427 kit. the quality is very good. the probe forged pistons are very light,with nice valve reliefs cut in them. as for the cast crank, i wind mine right now to 6100,after a cam and intake change in 2 weeks it should run right up to 6300-6500. the only problem with 351 strokers is getting enough intake flow on the motor. i run out of the box vic. jr. heads,vic jr intake,hyd roller cam and on the dyno last year at spring fling the motor was all done at 5500-5600. it did make 350lbft of torque at 2500, even with the cam i have. after talking with some dyno guys,when you get into big lifts with hyd roller cams the lifters become to much for the springs to handle at much above 5500. check out air flow researches web site. i plan on going with a large solid/flat tappet cam and stepping up to a super victor intake. with iron heads i would stay right at 10-10.5 to 1,aluminum you can go to about 10.5-11. dont ask how much i run with pump gas. the best part is the sound of the car at idle and even more so on the throttle!!! chris

[Mike Braddock]

I've heard bad things about CHP not standing behind the products they sell. One such instance was with the nice 427W they built for Andy here on the forum. You can read Andy's polite description of his experience with them here:

http://www.cobralads.com/butcher38.html
http://www.cobralads.com/butcher39.html

Andy is a far more patient and understanding person than I . You can do a search on the corral.net and find a few similar instances. I'm not saying they don't sell a good product, as I've heard lots of stories of guys that have bought motors or shortblocks from them and have been quite happy. Chris is one example. It's just something to consider.

Mike

[bonyhadi]

ditto on CHP not standing behind their products. shades of the same tales as Brent is going through.
NO WAY WOULD I BUY A MOTOR THAT THE BUILDER DIDN'T BREAK IN ON HIS DYNO.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is the cheapest insurance that you can buy.

[Mike Braddock]

When I heard through Andy's experience with CHP that they told him they didn't have an engine dyno they could break the motor in on, I knew they weren't a company I wanted to deal with. Now for such a large (or perhaps more correctly, popular) company, that's difficult to believe.

Mike

[xcessive1]

guys- i agree with not buying a complete motor unless its been pulled hard on a dyno. when i bought my chp kit i took it along with the block(mine) to my machinest(sp). we stood at the bench and double checked all machining. after he got the block done,we checked all clearances on the mains with a mic. i also made sure when i put the rods in i used a stretch gauge to tighten the bolts. after reading andy's post,i'm kinda glad i didn't go with a complete short block from them. chris

[JimT]

I'm building the engine myself, so all I need to be sure of is that the parts are good quality and that I actually receive what I ordered. Since they'll be shipped......ok, smuggled......into the UK I need to be 100% that the parts are correct. I've emailed Speedomotive today to ask what brands they use, if the mail back is satisfactory then I'll more than likely use them as their prices do seem good.

Thanks,

Jim.

[Andy FIA]

JimT - One thing that you'll have to be very careful with is the compression ratio, you can't go much above 10:1 with UK fuel and that will be the limiting factor for BHP.
You may have already considered this though.

Andy

[JimT]

Andy,

Yes, I've already take compression ratio into consideration and plan to run at about 9.6:1

Reading through some other bits and pieces, the Speedomotive 372 Long rod stroker looks quite appealing with the 1.72:1 rod ratio, the loger piston dwell is supposed to help efficiency by giving exhaust fumes more time to exit.

Well, still much to decide upon.

Thanks,

Jim.

[wilf leek]

Jim - if you are in the UK, and can make it to Stoneleigh this coming Sun/Mon, would be happy to talk stroker engines with you. I have a 408 stroker in my car, love it to bits. email me if you want to arrange to meet up.

BTW - if you are going to use ally heads, you could probably push the CR up a touch.

Wilf

[PhilZ]

Jim,
I prefer forged pistons. If you work with Speed-O-motive they will make changes to the engine for additional money. You can probably upgrade to forged pistond for a few hundred bucks.

Phil